When I have strong flashbacks or encounter a disturbing or unexpected trigger, I turn to The PTSD Workbook. I particularly recommend Chapter 4: Helping Yourself When You Reexperience a Trauma. This chapter has helped me on many occasions.

Long term there are other important practices that you can use to become prepared, so that when the flashbacks come, they aren't as strong. The more you know about what's happening and what to do, the more in control you should feel and the less overwhelmed. Here are some practices that I have found to be particularly useful.

Educate yourself about PTSD. When it comes to PTSD, ignorance is definitely not bliss.

Singing and music can be very helpful practices: they have helped me tremendously.

See a therapist or your family doctor.

Keep a journal.

Talk to friends or family members.

Find a support group. (Be cautious, however. More on this later.)

Practice self-kindness.

Man thinking (photo: Robyn Jay, flickr creative commons)

This last thing is the most important of all! Don't beat up on yourself if you encounter a trigger and have a flashback or feel really bad. It's not your fault!! Learning to cope is a skill like any other and it takes time and a great deal of courage and persistence. Maybe, we won't become like the lovely Buddha above, but life will get better. On the other hand, you will probably never completely "get over" your PTSD. I know that even when I'm feeling relaxed and enjoying life, I still find myself looking over my shoulder or expecting something "bad" to happen. Not constantly, but sometimes. It goes with the territory of my life. Will I get beyond this someday? Who knows. Just two days ago, I had to cancel dinner with one of my best friends because I'd had a bad day dealing with a medical crisis with my mother, who's in the hospital with pneumonia. Then my son and his girlfriend hosted a party for a friend who's going away and seeing all those beautiful young people, was a trigger. I was happy for them, but sad for myself that my own high school sweetheart and I had to go through so much together and are now estranged. And so, instead of going to dinner, I went upstairs, shut my door, and read a book. Sometimes, however, I just let myself feel sad and it was okay. Here are some final words to ponder from Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

from Oh, earth wait for me

River (flickr creative commons)

I want to go back to being what I haven't been,

to learn to return from such depths that among all natural things I may live or not live.

I don't mind being one stone more, the dark stone, the pure stone that the river bears away.